I rate beer on Beer Advocate under the name Naugros

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I'm sure many of you served craft beer with your Hanukkah or Christmas repast. Many of you still opted for a bottle of wine on the table. If so, I hope it was because it paired better with your meal rather than giving in to the farcical notion that wine adds a touch of class that beer cannot achieve. My table had a bottle of wine as well as a bottle of beer, Delirium Noel actually. Both paired pretty well with the duck and wild rice pilaf I served, but I think that the Belgian yeast funk and candy sugar in the beer worked better with the richness of the duck. But this entry is not to argue the place of beer at the holiday table nor is it a beer versus wine discussion. I'm writing to make the case for toasting the New Year with beer rather than the traditional champagne.

"Sacrilege!", you say? Pshaw! How did champagne earn the honored spot as unofficial "official drink of New Year's"? Heck, it seems to be the go-to beverage for all celebratory toasts…and boat launches as well. This could be attributed to strong marketing campaigns that associate champagne with luxury and indulgence. Check the red carpet and after parties of all self-serving celebrity awards shows and you'll see it everywhere. Good French champagnes (and only French sparkling wine should be called champagne) can be pretty expensive. Even many of the higher-end California sparkling wines (who erroneously and arrogantly call themselves champagne) can break your weekly budget for adult beverages.

I try not to give in to marketing when I can. I don't have a Snuggy, nor did I buy my wife a Lexus for Christmas. Yet, I have been known to run out for a Volcano taco at Taco Bell after seeing the commercial. But in this case, I say, "No!" I will not toast this New Years with champagne! Come to think of it, I didn't last year either. I had a couple of bottles of prosecco, which is a dry, Italian sparkling wine. But that's out this year too...well, for me anyway. The Geisha will still have prosecco in her glass. But I will have beer, but what beer?

I can't see going too far from the bubbly. I have crystal flutes that really only get used once a year and I don't intend to leave them forlorn, so I'll be choosing a beer that does well in a flute. Many of these come to mind and most of them are from Belgium. Almost any beer from Cantillon would fit the bill (if you can find a bottle at this time), but here are some style suggestions:

Oude Gueze: This is already the Senpai's toasting beverage of choice for the New Year and I commend his decision. I may follow suit on that. But unless you like sour beers you may want to pass. If you do like sour beers then you can't do much better. These beers can be very effervescent and supply that advertising-ingrained notion that you need something bubbly with which to toast. Cantillon, Drei Fonteinen and Boon are excellent and Oud Beersel isn't bad, but if you can find LambickX it's worth getting for the occasion.

Kriek and Framboise: Both are sour fruit beers that can be pretty bubbly depending on the brewery. Some breweries make this a little flat to my taste and that leaves the fruit flavors a bit cloying. But if you get a really good one the pinkish tone of the beer can look quite lovely in a champagne flute and, at the risk of sounding sexist, grab the attention of the ladies. At the very least, it becomes a conversation piece and who knows, you might help convert some people to Belgian beer. Again, Cantillon, Drei Fonteinen and Boon lead the pack in this category.

Biere de Champagne: Essentially this is beer brewed with champagne yeast, making it pretty dry and bubbly. This style is starting to find some popularity and it wouldn't be a bad thing to use for your ball-dropping toast. Again, this is a style that takes some getting used to as it delivers a different mouthfeel than almost every other style. Keep an open mind about it and you will find that you may love this beer. Honestly, Malheur is the only example of this style I've tried, but I truly enjoyed it. It even looks like a bottle of champagne.

Belgian Pale Ale: Strong or of "regular" strength, these are not as bubbly, but strike a brilliant golden hue in the glass. They technically should not be drank from a flute, but they can be. Some of the best beers in the world fall into this style including Unibroue's La Fin Du Mond, Victory's Golden Monkey, Orval and Duvel.

Pilsner: Yeah, I said it and I'll get some crap from the Duck for this, but these do look nice sparkling in the glass. I'm not talking the American adjunct pilsners, hell no! I'm talking about the well-crafted pilsners that have flavor. My Antonia from Dogfish Head comes immediately to mind here, but Victory's Prima Pils is another deserving beer, as is Rogue's Morimoto Imperial Pilsner. Czech pilsners are also some of the best beers in the world...Urquell is still the classic, but Zatec is my favorite.

Koslch: Okay, if you REALLY, REALLY want something that looks like champagne in the glass then kolsch is perhaps as close as you'll get. It's very pale and has a nice carbonation to it. It's traditional glass, the stange, is about as slender as a flute and it acts about the same way when poured as does champagne. This will keep people from pestering you as to what you're drinking. As far as I'm concerned, Reissdorf is the only way to go in this style and is pretty easy to find in the good beer stores.

Of course there are styles that you want to avoid pouring into a flute, like stouts, barleywines and German wheat beers. The latter will cost you a good half an hour to get enough beer (versus foam) into the glass to make it worth your while. The other two are just too viscous to drink from such a slender vessel. But if you don't feel constrained to use a flute, have at it! I comes down to one simple rule with all situations: if you like it, drink it!

Monday, December 12, 2011

So you're a beer geek; so am I. Obviously. I write a beer blog and you're reading it. So why am I writing a blog entry on what to get a beer geek for the holidays on a blog only beer geeks will read? So you can print it out, cut this part off and then leave around the house for someone who has the potential to care enough about you to get you something you really want.

So how does this work? I've got a few categories below with blank lines for you to make suggestions. You're supposed to fill that part in. I can't do everything. You're still going to get socks and a wallet, but it's worth a shot, right?

Cut here ------------------------------(and don't leave the words "cut here", I shouldn't have to tell you that)

MY HOLIDAY WISH LIST FOR A VERY BEERY SEASON

BEER - No one ever gets me beer because no one I know knows beer the way I know it. I'm also not very good at hiding the look on my face when I'm given another bottle of Chimay. Everyone who doesn't know beer asks the guy at the liquor store and it's usually not a liquor store that carries craft beer and the best beer they have is Chimay and so I invariably get at least one bottle every year. Not a bad deal really, but it's getting a little old. So, to make it easier this year, I've listed the top five beers that I've always wanted to try, but haven't bought for myself. Here's my list:

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GLASSWARE - Drinking beer out of a plastic Solo cup or one of your dinner glasses with the floral motif just doesn't work for all styles of beer. Each beer has its particular style of glass that helps enhance the beer drinking experience. Many breweries have their logos on their glassware, but please no logos that you could find on the hood of stock car driving fast and to the left every Sunday during the warmer months. Here are a few ideas:

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BEER GIFT PACKS - Make it easy on yourself. A lot of breweries bundle their beers in packs that include one or two of their glasses, just in time for the holidays! You can usually find these near the front of good beer stores where they keep the best gift ideas. Most of these tend to be pretty good, but here are some of the best ones:

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HOME BREWING EQUIPMENT - I can save us money by brewing beer at home. Who knows? I might even win a competition if I get good at it and, if I'm good enough, I might be able to open my own brewery someday. Think of this as more of an investment than a gift. Every home brewer has different methods and like to brew in certain batch sizes, so here's a list of stuff that I would need to either get started or to enhance the equipment I already have:

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BREWERIANA - No, I didn't make up that word! It's actually its own category on eBay. Go ahead! Look it up! See? It simply means "brewery related memorabilia". You know all those brewery logo coasters the bar lets me take home when I ask? Those would be considered breweriana. Then again, so would an illuminated, rotating Guinness sign that mounts to the wall. How cool would that be? So many things fall under this category, like brewery logo model train cars, bottle openers, beer mats, beer trays, tin brewery signs, etc. It can be overwhelming so you can refine your search with these ideas:

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BEER TOURISM - Oh yes, there's a niche market in the travel agency world for beer geeks. Classic beer tourism destinations are Germany and Belgium since the beer culture is so interwoven into the everyday life in those countries. But we don't even need to leave the United States to hunt down places where beer is revered. The San Diego area, Portland (Oregon, not Maine, although Allagash is in Portland, Maine) and Denver are all chock full of breweries and brew pubs. And to make it even better, they're also great centers for culture, history and shopping! These are the top five places I'd love to visit:

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STORAGE AND SUCH - A beer fridge is a necessity; a kegerator would be awesome; a double-tap kegerator would be legendary. A racking system for cellaring stronger brews can be stylish as well as utile. Wall-mounted bottle openers and shelving to display an empty bottle or a glassware collection is also very nice and reduces clutter in the man cave. These are a few things that I could use, ordered on importance level:

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BOOKS - If you think all this beer-drinking is killing brain cells then books are something that would stimulate the brain to help stave off all that mythical, urban-legendary brain damage caused from excessive drinking. Charlie Papazian wrote some great books on brewing (and there are many others on the subject) and there's a really good book by Garrett Oliver (he's the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery) about beer pairings. But the expert on the subject was Michael Jackson. No, not the glove-wearing, pasty-faced, noseless King of Pop you're thinking of; I'm talking about the Beer Hunter. If you want me to read then I'd read these:

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GIFT CERTIFICATES - This is even easier than the gift packs above, since you won't have to decide which gift pack. All the best beer stores sell gift certificates and then I can decide. Most of the homebrew stores sell them too. I believe you can even get gift certificates off of eBay. So you need to decide what you might want to get me and then figure out where the best place would be to get it and then that's where the gift certificate comes from. I'll even tell you the top five places I'd like a gift certificate to:

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So now you know what I'd like this season...stuff to make my cheeks rosy, like Santa's, and make my belly slosh when when I laugh like Santa. I promise to not operate the sleigh after having a few.

Monday, December 5, 2011

We had walked a lot and drank a lot the day prior, so waking up in the morning brought bursting bladders and aching feet. A good breakfast was in order and the Control had a definite idea as to what he wanted, biscuits and gravy and grits. The plan was to break our fast before we headed out to Fells Point to check out their annual festival. That plan didn't quite work out as planned. I had found a diner in the area that was sure to have the morning vittles that we were looking for and we struck off in search of it. Unlike the Pratt Street Ale House the night before, it was NOT where it was supposed to be. In fact, we think it had closed down and was never taken off Google Maps. Plan B was implemented, which consisted of wandering in the general direction of Fells Point, looking for a good place for breakfast along the way.

The first place we found was swamped and the prices were quite unreasonable for breakfast, but we were still in the tourist area of Inner Harbor so we pressed on, looking at every eatery along the way, rejecting each one for one reason or another. Biscuits and gravy and grits were becoming a fading dream, as we entered Fells Point and started to walk around the festival. Our hunger was distracted by the merchants, classic cars and historic ships for a while, until the Control caught sight of a place that held promise. On previous road trips we have turned to the traditional Irish breakfast to stave off the effects of a hangover. There's nothing like eggs and a variety of greasy, prepared meats to settle you down right. Although we weren't even slightly hung over, the sight of an Irish pub called Slainte gave us hope that we could get some adequate breakfast food to fill our bellies. Slainte would turn out to be so much more and was the third place on the trip that was unplanned, but really made this trip worthwhile.

I miss this place already

As we walked up to the door to check out the menu we could hear raucous cheering coming from inside. It was just after 11:00AM and there were sports fanatics crowding the bar…English Premier League football fanatics. Unlike the Abbey Burger Bistro, Slainte does not appear to have one favorite team and various club scarves adorned the rafters and the fans from both sides of the pitch. Good-natured barbs were hurled back and forth after each play. Being EPL fans ourselves, we decided to get a bite to eat here and, wondrously, biscuits and gravy and grits were on the menu.

We were showed to a booth and were grateful as Wayne Rooney for his new hair that the waitress allowed us to order from the breakfast menu despite the late hour. We each also got a cup of coffee and a pint of Guinness. The food was fresh and very well prepared and the Guinness went a long way to fortify us for the rest of the day. The coffee was even good, but the highlight of that was the mug it was served in. It was a good mug, one of those that feels good in your hand and holds just the right amount of steaming goodness. We each purchased one to bring home as souvenirs. We watched the game, wolfed down our breakfast, sipped our coffee and enjoyed the hell out of a properly poured pint of Guinness. Our waitress assured us that there was no rush and we could sit and lounge as long as we wanted. Being right comfortable in our surroundings and being brought a healthy dose of properly poured pints of Guinness, we had no compunction to leave at all. But leave we must, since we had an appointment for a brewery tour and still needed to walk back to the hotel.

To give you an idea how comfortable we were in Slainte, we both Liked their page on Facebook. They update it often and we both get melancholy when they advertise a special or promote that they're televising an important match live. We so want to just get in the car and drive to Baltimore and lounge in that wonderful Irish pub until they kick us out. For my own happiness I'm thinking of Unliking it, but I can't bring myself to do it.

No, we never went inside

Another indication as to how much we liked it there is the fact that I knew Max's Taproom was right around the corner. I had wanted to stop into this Mecca for Baltimore-bound beer geeks and even knew that the longer we spent in Slainte the more the chance to pop into Max's would disappear. I really didn't care. We walked past Max's and I took a picture of the outside, but we were in a hurry and now I have another reason to return.

Meat Tent!

On our way, we quickly explored some of the sections of the festival we hadn't see yet. One of these sections is dedicated to the Hispanic community. One of the awe-inspiring sights we saw in that area was meat cooking over an open fire, stretched out on thick, wire frameworks covering the rising heat from the fire. The Control aptly referred to them as "meat tents". These were nearly tall as a man and the smell coming from the slabs of cow smoking away on them was even better. Sadly, we were stuffed and pressed for time, so we took pictures and moved on. Another reason to return now, but it will have to be for the next Fells Point Festival.

We retrieved the car and drove south of the city to reach Heavy Seas. The brewery used to be called Clipper City and they decided to change the name. The old name is still preserved in the Clipper Fleet line of beers, which includes all the beers brewed under the original brand. They also have the Pyrate Fleet and Mutiny Fleet lines, all brewed in their Halethorpe facility, just south of Baltimore. This is another brewery located in an industrial complex but unlike many, the structures are newer. On your way inside, you have the option to buy a logo pint glass that has 5 chips in it with the Heavy Seas logo. As you probably guessed, you can trade these in for samples at the bar, which they will pour to the line on the back of the pint glass in order to stay within the legally prescribed limit for a "sample" of beer.

Who Cares! They Have Beer! And Medals!

The sampling area also doubles as the gift shop and they have all manner of licensed product and much of it has a pirate theme to it. The sampling bar is well-manned and proudly displays all the awards their beers have won throughout the years. Behind the bar is the tap list that very nicely explains each beer being served, including all the technical information (ABV, IBU, OG, FG, etc.) You can get a growler fill while there or buy beer in cases and they even have some of their 22 ouncers available for sale. The Control bought a couple of bottles of their Yule Tide that had been cellared since 2002 and, being the friend he is, gave me one of them.

This is one of the more interesting tours you'll attend at a brewery. The tour guide gets into a bit more detail than most and she would ask questions and reward correct answers with a free sample chip. And yes, I did manage to win one of these for myself by correctly identifying their hop back. The chip came in very handy since the chips are so neat that I decided to keep one as a souvenir. And then, as happens so often at breweries that give out tickets or chips, we were given more chips by people who weren't using them. I was glad that the Control was driving as I gladly tossed back sample after sample of Peg Leg Stout.

I've been to a few breweries that I put in the "been there, done that" column and have no desire to revisit. But if I find myself back in Baltimore, I will make a point of returning to the brewery for some samples and perhaps a souvenir or two. There are quite a few places there that warrant a return visit, like Zeebah Lounge, Slainte, Abbey Burger Bistro and Blue Agave. There's probably enough to turn this into a yearly event…with all beer geeks invited. As Larry promised me years back, Baltimore is a really great beer town, even if it does close up too early.